How to append to a file as sudo?

Posted by obvio171 on Super User See other posts from Super User or by obvio171
Published on 2010-05-01T05:50:00Z Indexed on 2010/05/01 5:58 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 309

Filed under:

linux

|

sudo

|

command-line

|

file

I want to do:

echo "something" >> /etc/config_file

But, since only the root user has write permission to this file, I can't do that. But this:

sudo echo "something" >> /etc/config_file

also doesn't work. Is there any way to append to a file in that situation without having to first open it with a sudo'd editor and then appending the new content by hand?

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about sudo

Error after sudo-ing "sudo: must be setuid root"

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
On a colleagues computer, everytime I use a sudo command, I get this error: sudo: must be setuid root I tried various things mentioned on the internet, like changing the permissions to 4755 from a live cd, but even this command from a live-cd sudo chmod 4755 /media/device/usr/bin/sudo gives the… >>> More
any clue in these logs why keyboard audio and internet are messed up

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Jun 7 00:01:18 Isis lightdm: pam_unix(lightdm-autologin:session): session opened for user mimi by (uid=0) Jun 7 00:01:18 Isis lightdm: pam_ck_connector(lightdm-autologin:session): nox11 mode, ignoring PAM_TTY :0 Jun 7 00:01:26 Isis polkitd(authority=local): Registered Authentication Agent for… >>> More
Sudo yum seems to fail on CentOS, but works fine after sudo -i

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am currently having some trouble with yum through sudo. For some reason, it does not seem to work: aron@graviton [/var/log]# sudo yum clean all There was a problem importing one of the Python modules required to run yum. The error leading to this problem was: /usr/lib64/python2.4/lib-dynload/datetime… >>> More
sudo in Debian squeeze inside linux-vserver always wants password

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Every since I upgraded all my linux-vserver Debian guests from Lenny to Squeeze I've the apparent problem that whenever I want to use sudo it asks me for my password. Every time. I've configured sudo to have a timeout of 30 minutes: Defaults timestamp_timeout=30 . This has been configured when it… >>> More
Ubuntu - Security - Sudo disable password :: What difference in security if sudo will not requere pa

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hi, What difference in security of UBUNTU if sudo will not require password? Thanks >>> More